DECEMBER 2006

SERVICES

3rd Advent	24th Advent 4/ Christmas Eve
8.00 am Holy Communion	8.00 am Holy Communion
11.00 am Mattins & Sermon	11.00 am Christingle Service
Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Guite	Preacher: Revd Dr Malcolm Guite
5.00 pm Advent Carol Service	11.30 pm Midnight Communion
Preacher: Revd Dr Malcolm Guite
10th Advent 2	25th Christmas Day
8.00 am Holy Communion	8.00 am Holy Communion
11.00 am Odyssey	10.30 am Christmas Carol Service
Preacher Revd Nigel Cooper	Preacher Revd Dr Fraser Watts
5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist	11.30 am Holy Communion (short service)
Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Guite
17th Advent 2	31st Chistmas 1
8.00 am Holy Communion	8.00 am Holy Communion
11.00 am Holy Communion (BCP)	11.00 am Mattins & Sermon
Preacher Canon Alan Cole	Preacher Canon Alan Cole
5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist	5.00 pm Meditative Eucharist
Preacher Revd Dr Malcolm Guite	Preacher Mr Peter Marshall
Fridays 10.30 am Holy Communion (not 29th) 5.30 pm Meditation (not 22nd or 29th)

11.00 am READINGS FOR DECEMBER

Theme Old Testament/Epistle New Testament/Gospel
3 Advent G Barnes Jeremiah 33:14-16 C Walker 1Thess.3:9-13
10 Nature M Lee Gen 28.10-19 E Edwards Mark 6.45-53
17 Advent 3 P Osbourn 1 Corinthians 4. 1-5 Chaplain Matthew 11. 2-10
24 Christmas M Guite Prophetic texts D Hirst Luke 1. 26-35
31 Incarnation B Cole Isaiah 41.21 - 42.1 J Dent 1 John 1.1-7
Readers for January 7th
P Marshall & Chaplain 14th Ordinands
21st A Finn & Chaplain 28th R Lynden-Bell & J Billett

Carol Services

Sunday 3rd December 5.00 pm: Advent Carol Service

Carols and readings by candlelight with the choir of Trinity Hall.

Sunday 24th December 11.00 am: Family Carol Service

A carol service with Christingles, for people of all ages.

Monday 25th December 10.30 am: Christmas Day Service

Readings and carols for Christmas Day. (NB Not 11.00 am)

Theatre Carol Service: This will be held at 7.30 pm on Monday December 4th It is primarily for theatre people, but there is space for regular members of the congregation. If you would like to go, please see Malcolm.

Odyssey this month will be at 11.00 am on December 10th, when Nigel Cooper, Chaplain of Anglia Ruskin University will speak on Encountering the Spirit in Nature. Odyssey in January will be on the 14th.

Christingles: We will have a Christingle service at 11.00 am on Christmas Eve. Young families are particularly encouraged to come. Christingles are made from an orange etc (representing the world) and a candle (representing the light of the world) and have become a popular and tangible way of conveying the message of Christmas.

Christmas Decoration: The church will be decorated for Christmas at 11:30 am on Friday December 22nd. If you can help, please contact Brenda Deboys, or just come along.

Christmas Collections: The collection at the Advent Carol Service and the Christingle Service will be given to Mama Jane's Children's Care Centre in Uganda, and at the other Christmas services to `Crisis', a charity that supports work with the homeless.

Watchnight Service: There will be the usual short Watchnight Service at 11.40 pm on Sunday December 31st, followed by ringing in of the New Year, and refreshments.

Chapter: The next meeting will be on Wed 6th December at 6.00 pm.

Meditation: The Friday meditation group will be led by Mike Meredith on Nov 10th, 17th & 24th, and by Malcolm Guite on Dec 1st, 8th & 15th. There will be no meditation on Dec 22nd & 29th.

Joint Communion: There will be a joint Communion Service for morning and evening congregations at 11.00 am on Sunday January 7th, keeping the Feast of the Epiphany. There will be no 5.00 pm service on that day.

Chaplain's Letter

We come now to a dark time of the year, but in the midst of that darkness we come to a light, or rather, that light comes to us. The mystery of incarnation is not over, the one who was born in human flesh in Bethlehem is still coming to us, still being born, painfully, in the dark, in our midst and deep within us, if we will let him. That is what Advent is for, letting him be born, and it is the most difficult time of year. We have made it so. Once Advent could be kept quietly, like lent, as a season of penitence, purification, preparation, as the fast before the feast. So that then we could come to the twelve days of Christmas by sudden and wonderful contrast. We could delight in the light and the tinsels and the feasting, instead of being tired of them and oppressed by the enforced jollity and bling in the shops that has been dragging on since early November. We can't change that now, all we can try to do is preserve, somewhere in each day of advent a little pool of quiet into which we can dip our souls, a little empty space within, in which to plant a seed of Christ-light, so that come the day there is a place and a space for the Christ-child who will surely renew us in the renewing of the year. I hope that St Edwards will serve for you this advent as a keeper of that inner space, a kindler of that inner light, a place of stillness and refuge from the bustle, a womb in which your Christ-child can grow.

Clergy: Revd. Dr. Fraser Watts (19, Grantchester Road, CB3 9ED; 359223, fnw1001@cam.ac.uk);
Revd Dr Malcolm Guite (694249, mg320@cam.ac.uk); Canon Alan Cole (892286, abc-73@tiscali.co.uk),
Churchwardens: Dr. Elizabeth Edwards (313570, elizedwards@waitrose.com); Mr Jesse Billett (476751, jdb43@cam.ac.uk);
Treasurer: Mr Geoffrey Barnes; (717757, Geoff.Barnes@cambridgeshire.gov.uk, Reader: Mr. Peter Marshall (564471)